A protest in front of the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro this Tuesday morning (27) called for justice for the murder of student Thiago Menezes Flausino, aged 13, on August 7, 2023. Military police officers (PMs) Diego Pereira Leal and Aslan Wagner Ribeiro de Faria are accused of murder and procedural fraud and begin to be tried today by a popular jury. 
Priscila Menezes Gomes de Souza, Thiago’s mother, said that her son’s dream was to be a professional football player. Thiago left behind his father, mother and three sisters. “It’s a very difficult time for the family because nothing will bring him back, but it’s the least that justice is done. They tried to frame Thiago, but they are the ones who committed a crime and will sit in the dock,” said the mother.
Thiago was murdered while riding on the back of a motorcycle on the main access road to Cidade de Deus. He was hit by three gunshots. The teenager did not have a weapon and there was no confrontation at the time he was shot.
The police officers admitted in their testimony that they had shot Thiago. They are also responsible for procedural fraud for attempting to plant a weapon at the crime scene to support the version that there had been a confrontation.
Four military police officers were initially identified and arrested as being involved in Thiago’s death. In June 2025, the Court of Justice ordered the release of two of them, as it understood that they had not directly participated in the murder.
The executive director of Amnesty International in Brazil, Jurema Werneck, says that the organization has been following Thiago’s family since his murder. “It was a serious violation of human rights in which everything was done wrong. It was wrong for the police to suspect, judge and instantly kill a 13-year-old boy. Our expectation is that the Jury Court will do justice. It is already taking too long. As long as it takes, it is injustice”, said Jurema.
